


Cake, Phone, Harry

by lululawrence



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, Fluff, How is that not a tag, M/M, Texting, anyway, are you telling me no one else has written an entire tag about emojis?, emojis, mentioned - Freeform, that about sums this all up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-23 19:58:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10726164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: It was so innocent.  Louis hadn’t been expecting it.  “See you at home around 6!” Harry’s text read, and then at the very end he’d snuck one of those very graphics Louis had come to dislike so much.A smiley emoji.Or the one where Louis is probably the last holdout when it comes to using emojis, but that doesn't last forever.





	Cake, Phone, Harry

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written as part of an ongoing challenge. We each select random numbers and are given a specific emotion from the book 1000 Feelings For Which There Are No Names. To read the other fics written in this challenge, [click here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/ShortFic_Challenge_For_Which_There_Is_No_Name/works), or you can find the masterpost on tumblr [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/159679804243/1000-feelings-for-which-there-are-no-names-prompt).
> 
> Massive thanks to my constant cheerleader, [Tin](http://silentlarryshipper.tumblr.com) and my always willing last minute beta [Molly](http://becomeawendybird.tumblr.com). All remaining mistakes are my own!
> 
> I hope you at least giggle a bit at this ridiculous thing haha I know I sure had fun writing it. My prompt was (820) The self-satisfaction of clearly being the only person in the world who never uses those stupid smileys.

It kept happening with more and more frequency.  It started with just Phoebe and Daisy and slowly worked it’s way through all his sisters and then even his mom.  Soon, Niall and Liam were in on it too, but at least Harry had held out.  Harry had resisted the temptation.  Harry knew there were better things in this world than succumbing to that awful, horrendous practice.  Or so Louis thought.

It was so innocent.  Louis hadn’t been expecting it.  “See you at home around 6!” Harry’s text read, and then at the very end he’d snuck one of those very graphics Louis had come to dislike so much.

A smiley emoji.

Louis had to pride himself on holding out, really.  He apparently was the only one in the entire world who had technology capable of emojis and refused to use them.  Even his nan had started using them.  He hadn’t even known she had figured out the text options on her phone until he’d gotten one from her the other day and of course it included not only a laughing smiley face but also, for some reason unknown to him, the Kenyan flag.  She’d been talking about seeing him that weekend for Fizzy’s school choir concert, so he truly didn’t understand where that came from, but far be it from him to question her.

But honestly.  How did one even see clearly what some of the emojis were doing?  They were  fucking tiny!  He had to squint at his screen just to try to see what face they were making so he could somehow magically determine Lottie’s mood based solely upon what he thought looked like a sweating smiley face, a scary red mask with a big nose, and a duck.  What the hell did that mean?  

Nope.  Obviously he was the only one who had any sanity and refused to use those damn things.

“Hey, babe!  I thought Chinese sounded good so I brought home some szechuan chicken for you,” Harry called from the entryway.  

Louis sat on the couch and stared at his phone some more.  As he waited his sisters added more lines with more emojis and Louis only got more frustrated.

_ Louis: Can someone please be a dear and use your fucking words _

“You shouldn’t use that language around the younger ones, they’re still twelve you know,” Harry chided as he sat the food in Louis’ lap.

Louis leaned his head back and puckered his lips asking for a kiss.  Harry gave in easily then went towards the kitchen to get some forks.

“Do you really think they don’t use that language already?  I know I was thinking I was all badass at twelve and cussing when my mom wasn’t around.”

Harry arched a brow as he sat down facing Louis on the couch.  “I’ll bet you fifty bucks you weren’t saying ‘fuck’ at twelve.”

Louis rolled his eyes and chewed the mouthful he’d just popped in with his fingers.  Harry handed him a fork and Louis nodded in thanks.  “Okay, fine.  I was still scared my mom would somehow know I’d dropped the f-bomb even if she wasn’t there, but I did say shit, hell, and damn a lot.”

Harry took a swig of the beer he had also brought in for himself before tilting his head thoughtfully.  “I always liked the word damn, however fuck quickly replaced it as my favorite once I reached college.  It’s just so versatile.”

Louis’ phone vibrated against his knee so he picked it up again to find row upon row of emojis in the sibling group chat.  Louis just closed out and locked his phone.  He’d deal with them later.

“What is it about emojis that everyone loves so much?” Louis wondered out loud.  He truly didn’t get it, but since Harry had been turned to the dark side, perhaps he could shed some light.  “Words don’t take so long to type out.  It takes me longer to even find an emoji on the keyboard to even ask them what it means than to just describe it.”

Harry chuckled a little through his fried rice.  “They’re just fun, Lou.  It’s a nice way to easily be able to show someone the tone with which you’re sending the words.  Text is hard to convey emotion, so emojis just help that a little.”

Louis pulled the group chat up on his phone and showed Harry what looked to have devolved into an emoji war his sisters were having.  

“Please, by all means, tell me the emotions they are trying to convey.”

Harry laughed a bit too hard with rice still in his mouth and inhaled a bit, causing a coughing fit.  Louis threw his food and phone to the coffee table and rushed to Harry’s side, rubbing his back gently as he coughed with watering eyes.

“Fuck, that rice hurt,” he wheezed as he tried to get his breath back without hacking up a lung.  

“Shitty rice.  Sorry, babe.”

Harry shook his head vehemently, still coughing.  “Love this rice.  Not shit.”

Louis smiled fondly and handed his fiancé his beer.  Harry took a swig as soon as he was out of danger of choking on that as well before wiping his eyes.  

“Anyway, they’re just being little shits like a certain brother of theirs taught them to be.”  Harry’s eyes twinkled and Louis remembered why he loved him so much.  He was so sweet and truly his better half in every way, but he could dish it out as good as Louis could as well.  “They’re really not that bad, though.  You should give them a try.”

It was now Louis’ turn to shake his head.  He’d just filled his mouth with another forkful of szechuan chicken, but he pushed it to the side so he could get out, “No way in hell.”

 

*~~***~~*

 

Louis was so confused.  His phone was going crazy.  All he wanted to do was make sure Harry knew he wanted cake, but every time he typed it, a fucking cake emoji popped up.  

It didn’t matter what Louis did, every time he typed out cake, it would change into that fucking emoji.  He tried writing it with the first letter capitalized, all lowercase, even all caps.  His phone always changed it to that fucking emoji.  He didn’t want to send Harry a little digital artwork of what it was he wanted.  He wanted to be sure Harry was damn sure that Louis wanted cake.  Besides, Louis wanted chocolate cake, and this little fucker was definitely not chocolate.  Louis didn’t want any fucking candles on it either.  

Getting frustrated, Louis finally sent the five millionth message in a row with just a cake emoji.  

_ Louis: haz please for the love of god bring me home some chocolate c a k e _

Louis hit send and was so relieved to see that if he spaced the letters out that worked just fine.  He heaved himself off the couch and went to the kitchen to see what might be available for him to pull together for dinner.  Some digging around showed him they had the makings for a simple chicken alfredo pasta, so he got started on that.  Louis was far to hungry to leave his dinner’s fate in Harry’s hands when he might not make it home until past eight.

He was just putting the chicken into the oven when his phone vibrated with a response from Harry.  It was three laughing emojis with tears in their eyes.  Louis took a deep breath and counted to five.  Harry obviously wasn’t understanding the depth of his frustration with this issue.

_ Louis: Harold.  This is not a laughing matter. _ __  
_ Louis: How very dare you!  You know my feelings about this shit! _ _  
_ __ Louis: My phone has betrayed me!

And once Louis hit send on his last message he growled in frustration.  The word phone had also changed to the emoji of a phone.

_ Louis: HOLY SHIT WHAT IS GOING ON _

Louis slammed the phone onto the counter and hoped he didn’t do any damage to it before he grabbed the pot he was going to use for the pasta and began to fill it with water.  It didn’t take long for Harry to respond this time.

_ Haz Baby Cakes: Babe.  Please calm down.  I’m sure it’s just you hitting the emojis that are being suggested on predictive text or something. _

Louis shook his head while he finished filling the pot and set it on the stove.  After he lit the burner, he wiped his hands on his jeans and grabbed the phone again.

_ Louis: I DONT USE PREDICTIVE TEXT _ __  
_ Louis: I TURNED THAT OFF _ __  
_ Louis: HOW IS THIS HAPPENING _ _  
_ __ Louis: HARRY

Fuck!!!  His phone did it again!  This time it changed Harry’s name into a frog face.  Louis typed in Harry’s name over and over again and every single time, just like what happened with cake, Harry changed to a frog when he hit send.

_ Louis: IM TRYING TO TYPE YOUR FUCKING NAME IS MY PHONE POSSESSED OR WHAT?? _

Once again phone was changed to the emoji as well and Louis was so over it.  Whatever was happening would hopefully be fixed by turning his phone off and back on again, but he’d wait until his conversation with Harry was done first.  Within seconds Harry had sent back a single emoji of a peach.

_ Louis: Curly haired cunt I fucking hate you _

_ Haz Baby Cakes: I love you too, sweetcheeks.  And of course I’ll bring you home some cake. _

Harry followed this up with a cake emoji and an emoji that looked like it was squinting and sticking out it’s tongue.  What did that one even mean?  Louis didn’t care at this point.  He just shut his phone off and decided he’d turn it back on again later.

 

*~~***~~*

 

As the days went on, Louis found more words that would automatically change to symbols and after about a week of learning which words triggered the switch to emoji speak, Louis was no longer frustrated.  Just very confused.

“Okay, but Hazza.  Look at this.  That looks like a penguin in a bed.  Why would they make the emoji look like that?”

Harry leaned over from where he was sat working on his laptop in bed to see Louis’ screen clearly.

“It just looks like someone cuddling a lot of pillows to me,” Harry mused.  

Louis loved him so much.  He was pouting his lips a bit as he considered Louis’ thoughts on a fucking emoji.  Who else would put that much thought into what a microscopic digital art thing looked like?  No one.  It was just another reason Louis knew he’d gotten the best person out there.  Who could possibly be better than Harry?  No one.

“You know what?  I think I can see the penguin though.  That is a rather round person, isn’t it?”

“Thank you!” Louis cried, throwing his hands in the air.

“What made that one pop up?  Was it actually related to bed or did you try typing something like shoes and you got that instead?”

Louis snorted.  Just yesterday he had been talking to Harry about how they needed more cheese, but when he typed in the actual word cheese, it was a mouse that came up.  The connection was clear, but obviously gave the sentence a different meaning than originally intended.

“My sisters asked if I was typing from the tub again and I told them I was in bed this time and that’s what bed turned into.”

Harry just nodded and turned back to his computer.  Louis sat and watched him for a minute.  He was so distracted by how soft he looked with his computer glasses on and his worn old t-shirt with the stretched out neck.  Louis had known him for over six years now, but he felt like Harry was just getting better with age.

“I don’t think I mind them so much anymore.  It’s kind of fun finding out which ones will randomly turn now,” Louis softly said, only partway realizing he was even talking.

A smirk grew on Harry’s face before he pulled his glasses off and set them on his side table.

“Is that right?  The last holdout of the haters of emojis has finally fallen?”  Harry shifted down away from the headboard and onto his side before he propped his head on his hand.  Louis knew this meant that he was about to get ridiculously sassy, but he couldn’t bring himself to mind too much.  Sassy Harry was incredibly adorable, as much as he could also be annoying.  He really was an insufferable know-it-all occasionally.

“So, are you saying you  _ like _ the emojis?”

Louis rolled his eyes.  “You could possibly go so far as to say that, yes.”

“Are you saying you might even start to use them of your own accord and not just when they automatically populate?” Harry pressed.

Louis turned on his side so he mirrored Harry’s pose and said, “I’ve been considering it.”

This made Harry’s smile go wide and he began to giggle.  “They’re never going to believe it only took just over a week to break you.”

Louis furrowed his brow.  “Wait, what d’you mean?”

Harry’s giggles turned into a full on braying laugh and Louis was past suspicious at this point.

“Harold.  Who isn’t going to believe?  And what do you mean by just over a week?”

“Oh my God,” Harry forced out between wheezes.  “I still can’t believe you never put two and two together.”

Louis pouted and waited for him to calm down enough to be able to explain.  Whenever he got worked up to a good laugh like this, it could take him awhile to calm down but the wait was usually worth it.  

“Okay.  Okay, sorry.  Fuck, sorry.  It’s just so funny!”  Harry wiped his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing.  “You left your phone unattended after dinner on Sunday when we were at your mom’s, ya know?  So Phoebe and Daisy decided to pull a little prank while you were busy with your nan and mom.  They asked me to unlock your phone so they could set some words to shortcut to emojis.  It took you a day or two to even get to one of the apparently dozens of words they did this with, but it was like you hit the jackpot that day because you got like five all at once and you were so pissed, Lou.  I was so glad you found them at first when I wasn’t here, because I was so sure I wasn’t going to be able to lie to you about it.”

Louis just stared at Harry and blinked slowly.  “You’re telling me you knew what was going on this whole time and you kept it from me?”  Harry nodded and smiled apologetically.  “H.  You can’t even hold back about having bought the fancier type of pens, you’re that bad at lying.  How the fuck did you keep this to yourself?”

Harry started laughing uncontrollably again, the tears running down his face.  He leaned forward and buried his face in Louis’ neck, continuing to laugh.  Louis ran his hands soothingly up and down Harry’s bouncing back, unable to keep a giggle or two from escaping himself.  There was just something so infectious about Harry when he was happy.

“I don’t know, but I think I deserve an award.  I almost broke so many times!  But I didn’t!  You aren’t mad, right?”

Louis shook his head and knew Harry could feel the movement.

“No, though I’m a bit impressed with the three of you and your scheming skills.  I’ve obviously taught all of you well,” Louis chuckled.  “What do you say you don’t tell them i’ve figured it out and I start pretending like other words have started to switch too?  Ones they didn’t set, so they can be confused this time?”

“Oh God, not more secrets!” Harry whined.  “I can’t lie to your siblings too!”

“Why would they even ask you about this?  It’ll be fine.”

Harry pulled back from Louis’ neck to give him a knowing look.  It turned out Harry did know better.  The girls asked Harry about it the very next day, but after several ridiculous responses from Harry involving the Mariah Carey “can’t read” gif and “New phone, who dis?”, they stopped aside from sending him vaguely threatening emojis.

In the end, everyone laughed and Louis never did change the shortcuts on his phone.  

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please give life to this author by leaving kudos and nice comments and if you particularly want to help me write another day, please reblog the fic post found [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/159976272393/cake-phone-harry-by-lululawrence-it-was-so).
> 
> Interested in helping support charities with fanfic? If you are, I could write a fic for you! Check out the info [here on Tumblr](https://1dfanworksforcharity.tumblr.com/post/174494969280/1d-fanworks-for-charity-auctions-for-lululawrence).


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